that’s the way it is

“Remember,” a church lady

proclaimed, “for every child, there is

a mother who loves him.”

I bowed my head, wishing

with everything within me

that what she believed were true

Children need to learn to love

and many, being given so little themselves or, neglected or abused,

learn, rather, to regard others as they

have been considered and behave

as they have seen modeled for them

A child must learn to love

If his caretakers cannot or do not cherish

can we who see, afford not to give

whatever we can?

greed enriches no one

greed enriches no one

the act of plundering thickens

our skin and our waistline

makes us sullen and grasping

we surrender our place in the glorious

diversity that surrounds us and, worse,

despoil and deplete it so what we pass

on to the next generation is a mere

shell of what we were given

each generation needs its own

humble appreciation and maturity

to assume responsibility to sustain

the richness of our Earth

each person needs to do what he can

to heal what greed has stripped of joy

even for the ‘me’ generation

which of us, when our child asks

for bread, would hand him a snake?